Multicultural Call Center Service--Direct Marketing, Mail Order, E-commerce News

Direct Marketing, Mail Order, and E-commerce News from the National Mail Order Association

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Language Line Services Introduces Inbound Direct Response Service in
Support of Its Customers' Multicultural Marketing Programs

Language Line Services, the world's largest provider of over-the-phone interpretation services, announced today the availability of a new service that supports its clients' multicultural marketing programs, Language Line(R) Direct Response.

With Language Line Direct Response service, interpreters are the first point of contact for limited English-speaking callers. Language Line Services interpreters are able to greet these callers in their own languages, identify their needs, and then add-on an English-speaking company's representative for further servicing.

Organizations with or without their own in-language call centers may order Language Line Direct Response service with customized greetings for any of these eight languages available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Forty million limited English-speaking people live in the United States today. They prefer to do business in their own languages. Multicultural marketing is the fastest growing segment of the advertising industry. Companies across America are recognizing the value of promoting their products and services in the languages customers understand ... their own.

Language Line Direct Response service makes communications with limited English speakers even easier.

Through the use of state-of-the-art call center technology, Language Line Services interpreters are now able to:

-- Identify and answer inbound response calls generated from clients' in-language print advertising, brochures and web sites;

-- Greet limited English speaking callers in their own languages; and

-- Obtain initial information about the caller's needs before adding the client's own English-speaking representative to the line to complete the transaction.

"Language Line Direct Response service is a natural extension of what we already do for our thousands of clients everyday," noted Phil Speciale, Vice President of Marketing. "Traditionally, organizations use our service when they encounter a limited English-speaking customer, either over the phone or in person. Now we can actually answer our client's phone, introduce ourselves using our customer's company name, and greet their callers in the languages they speak."

The Language Line Direct Response system offers the following call enhancements:

-- Customized greetings -- callers are greeted by the Language Line Services' interpreter, with a specialized message from the client organization, in the caller's own language.

-- Live answer -- the interpreter greets the caller in their language as though the call was being answered by the client's own representative and obtains preliminary customer information.

-- Warm transfers -- the interpreter stays on the line with the customer as the call is transferred to the company's own English-speaking representative.

-- Customized routing -- callers are directed to the specific area or function within an organization that can service their needs (i.e. sales, customer service, special program response center, etc.)

-- Enhanced call center efficiency -- when interpreters initially take all calls in-language, it makes for a much smoother transition to an English-speaking representative.

-- Cost savings -- no need for the company to create very expensive separate in-language call centers for handling general communications or in-bound response programs.

Other Services Available to Further Support Multicultural Marketing Programs

Language Line Services can also translate product brochures, advertising, web sites and all other marketing communications in 150 languages. The company can also test language proficiency and train its clients' own in-house bilingual staff, if they already have their own in-language call centers.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services provides over-the-phone interpretation and document translation services to global public and private clients in finance, healthcare, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, travel, public utilities, retail, entertainment and manufacturing. It also delivers vital interpretation services to police and emergency services, state and federal government agencies, and judicial systems. Through Language Line Services, anyone with a telephone can now communicate from English into more than 150 languages.

To learn more, visit www.languageline.com or call 1-800-752-0093.

Language Line(R) is a registered trademark of Language Line Service, Inc.

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